Attendance Up For Championship Games Among BCS AQ Conferences

The SEC drew eight more fans for its title game at the Georgia Dome than in '12

Each BCS conference that holds a conference championship game saw an increase in attendance in '13. The Auburn-Missouri SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome led all title games with 75,632 fans on Saturday afternoon. That figure is up slightly from 75,624 fans for the Alabama-Georgia game last year and the best attendance for the game since Auburn-South Carolina drew 75,802 in '10. The three-year-old Pac-12 Championship, which is played at the home site of the school with the best conference record, saw a record 69,535 fans for the Stanford-Arizona State matchup at Sun Devil Stadium. The three-year-old Big Ten Championship game, which featured Michigan State-Ohio State at Lucas Oil Stadium, also drew a record crowd, with 66,002 fans in attendance. Meanwhile, the nine-year-old ACC Championship game drew 67,694 fans for the Florida State-Duke matchup at Bank of America Stadium. That figure is up from the 64,778 that saw FSU-Georgia Tech last year, but down from 73,675 for Clemson-Virginia Tech in '11 (THE DAILY). In Michigan, Josh Slagter noted the Big Ten Championship game "looked like it was close to 75 percent Ohio State fans." Slagter: "That's how a program travels. We'll assume Michigan State fans were just saving for a California vacation" (MLIVE.com, 12/8).
FIT FOR A QUEEN: In Charlotte, Steve Harrison reported the ACC Championship Game "appears to be safe in Charlotte, at least for the short term." ACC ADs have "given numerous indications that they want to keep the game" at the venue. This year's game was the last scheduled under the current agreement between the ACC and Charlotte Sports Foundation, but both sides are negotiating "an extension" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 12/7). The foundation took out a full-page ad in yesterday's Charlotte Observer thanking the ACC and its fans (THE DAILY).

SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME ATTENDANCE TREND

YEAR

VENUE

MATCHUP

ATTENDANCE

'13

Georgia Dome

Auburn-Missouri

75,632

'12

Georgia Dome

Alabama-Georgia

75,624

'11

Georgia Dome

LSU-Georgia

74,515

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP ATTENDANCE TREND

YEAR

VENUE

MATCHUP

ATTENDANCE

'13

Bank of America Stadium

Florida State-Duke

67,694

'12

Bank of America Stadium

Florida State-Georgia Tech

64,778

'11

Bank of America Stadium

Clemson-Virginia Tech

73,675

BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP ATTENDANCE TREND

YEAR

VENUE

MATCHUP

ATTENDANCE

'13

Lucas Oil Stadium

Michigan State-Ohio State

66,002

'12

Lucas Oil Stadium

Wisconsin-Nebraska

41,260

'11

Lucas Oil Stadium

Wisconsin-Michigan State

64,152

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP ATTENDANCE TREND
(played at home site of best record)

YEAR

VENUE

MATCHUP

ATTENDANCE

'13

Sun Devil Stadium

Stanford-Arizona State

69,535

'12

Stanford Stadium

Stanford-UCLA

31,622

'11

Autzen Stadium

Oregon-UCLA

59,376

ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS:With FSU and Auburn playing in the final BCS Championship game, ESPN’s Jesse Palmer said of the system, “You can say what you want to say about the BCS. It created controversy, it created debate, a little bit of confusion. We didn’t always understand the computer formula and that part of the BCS. At the end of the day, more often than not, it got it right. Now we’re entering the playoff. Rest assured there will be more controversy down the road.” ESPN’s David Pollack added, “I’m just very thankful that I don’t have to hear about computers anymore. I don’t want to hear the computers got to rank this, the computers got to rank that. I want to hear who people, who watch games, how they rank them” (“BCS Selection Show,” ESPN, 12/8). Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany prior to Saturday's games said of the BCS, “It served all of us really well. It’s always controversial. We’ve got pollsters, coaches, Harris voters and computer quants. They’ve served us fairly well, and if you don’t like them, it’ll change in about 28 hours" (“College GameDay,” ESPN, 12/7).